Attachments for lift trucks



arch 2l, 1967 T. VANDER WAL Bg ATTACHMENTS FOR LIFT TRUCKS Filed Jan. 4, 1965 ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,310,189 ATTACHMENTS FOR LIFT TRUCKS Tueuis Vander Wal, 1432 W. Madison St.,

Milwaukee, Wis. 53204 Filed Jan. 4, 1965, Ser. No. 422,906 1 Claim. (Cl. 214-620) This invention relates to improvements in attachments for fork-lift trucks, and is related to my prior applications Ser. No. 293,621, led July 9, 1963, now Patent No. 3,180,513, and Ser. No. 389,701, tiled Aug. 14, 1964.

The invention has for its object to adapt a fork-lift truck to more eciently handle loads carried on pallettes formed of fragile material, and which are likely to be damaged by use of fork-lift trucks not provided with the present attachment.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent as the description proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan View in elevation of an attachment for lift trucks embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view in elevation of the same.

FIG. 3 is an inverted plan view of the device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. l.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral 10 refers to the device generally, having a pair of plates 11 and 12 joined at their rear ends 13 and 14 by a shaft 15 which is journalled Within la sleeve 16 fixed for a portion of its length to the under surface of plate 11, and a companion sleeve 17 similarly fixed to the under face of the plate 12. A relatively larger sleeve 18 embraces the free portions of the sleeves 16 and 17, and carries a ring 19 which is fastened to the chain 20, the latter being tethered by its other end 21 to the lift truck 22. Each plate 11 and 12 has a subjoined channel 23 to accommodate the fork members 24 and 25 of the truck 22.

An adjustable stop 26 is formed of an angle iron having apertures at 27 and 28 adapted to register with apertures 29 in the plates 11 and 12 to accommodate the pins 30 as illustrated in FIG. 4. A toggle lever 31 pulls ou ICC the rods 32 to secure the clamps 33 and hold stop 26 and plates 11 and 12 in a selected adjusted position. The frontal ends 34 of plates 12 and 13 are bevelled to permit easy insert under pallettes 35 of fragile material or the like.

A pair of springs 36 are hooked to eyes 37 on the lift truck 22, and their opposite ends are secured within the sleeves 38 on the under sides of the plates 11 and 12.

In use, there will be an independent flexibility of the plates 11 and 12 due to the pivotal mounting thereof, before insertion of the forks into sleeves 23, and after withdrawal thereof.

Having thus described the invention, it Will be understood that the device is capable of many modifications in structure and design, Without departing from the spirit of the invention, within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

In a fork-lift truck With a plurality of fork elements, a plurality of plates with subjoined channels to receive the fork elements, a common pivotal connection between said plates, sleeve means mounted on the underside of each of said plates, a plurality of parallel disposed resilient means, means attaching one end of said resilient means to said lift truck and the opposite end of said resilient means Wit-hin said sleeve means, said resilient means being operative to retract said plates from a first position to a second position on and relative to said fork elements.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,023,919 3/1962 Hobson 214-620 3,053,405 8/ 1962 Holmberg 214-620 3,180,513 4/1965 Vander Wal 214-620 FOREIGN PATENTS 329,460 5/ 1930 Great Britain.

GERALD M. FORLENA, Primary Examiner.

R. B. JOHNSON, Assistant Examiner. 

